RPG Superstar 2013 Top 32
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Hi. I'm Fatespinner and I'm a bad roleplayer. Yes, many people have told me that I have excellent concepts, that the characters I play have believable backstories, interesting histories, and "realistic" drives, goals, and inhibitions. This is likely all true. However, I am a bad roleplayer.
Why?
At the core of it all, no matter what game you're playing, you're still playing a game. You are doing this to have fun. There is no "winning" in RPGs, so you need to find a concept that you will enjoy playing and run with it. Most GOOD roleplayers will dwell on their character concept for awhile, then finally solidify who they want their character to be, worrying about the stats and equipment and "crunchy bits" after they've got a solid grip on who the character they're portraying is.
I, however, am a BAD roleplayer. I think of what kind of horrible monstrosity I want to create, whether it be a double-weapon-wielding horrible dervish of whirling blade-death or a semi-psychotic fireball-chucking mage with more damage bonuses than you can shake a rod of negation at. Then, once I have honed my destructive impulses into a finely-crafted weapon capable of shredding my opponents asunder and leaving naught but blood and tears in my wake, THEN (and only then) do I create the "shell" that this unnameable horror will inhabit. I give the shell motivations, ethics, quirks, and a general personality to create the illusion of being a good roleplayer. Based on the reactions of many, I do this quite well and I thank you for your praise.
So, who else wants to come clean? :D
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RPG Superstar 2013 Top 32
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Actually, according to your descriptions there, I would have to say that i fall into the "Good Roleplayer" catagory...
I've always done it as character first, rules to make the character work second.
and my four players are split evenly.
This post isn't meant to call anyone out or anything, and I acknowledge that there are plenty of "good" roleplayers out there. This thread is mostly just to make people who think they might be good roleplayers realize that they really aren't (but might be good at faking it). :D
Alternately, it's a good thread for powergamers to sound off and admit their own vice.
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This post isn't meant to call anyone out or anything, and I acknowledge that there are plenty of "good" roleplayers out there. This thread is mostly just to make people who think they might be good roleplayers realize that they really aren't (but might be good at faking it). :D
Alternately, it's a good thread for powergamers to sound off and admit their own vice.
* raises hand *
I'll admit that I always make the character first, and then develop the story afterwards. I pick a cool concept rules-wise and then flesh him out much like yourself.
In a way it's reminiscent of top-down vs. bottom-up design perspectives. Some of us have a really general character idea, then we focus into it and use the rules to recreate our character idea, while others make a specific character with the rules and then spread out to write his story, adding more and more details as you go (kinda like a snowball).
I generally do the latter, though I have done the former for a M&M game before. It just seems to fit better to come up with origin stories/power ideas before detailing the stats in that system.
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I'm sort of in the middle, myself - I almost always make the concept first, but then will spend hours trolling through various rules to find just the right fit for feats, equipment, spells, etc.
Also, as much as I do enjoy role playing when the inspiration strikes, I generally just outline my character's approach and then make a roll to see how it turns out.
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I tend to make builds I either enjoy or want to try out.
From a roleplaying standpoint, I'll come up with maybe some background to establish a goal, or a personality aspect. Depending on what those are, they might present themselves when the build itself comes into effect (maybe a PC has an intimidating demeanor and hence has a good Intimidate skill). I'd say at most 25% of what my PC actually does with its build comes from its personality or goals. The rest of it is purely how the build functions when needed, or how the personality and goals present themselves in conversation outside of build effects.
I haven't had any complaints. Yet.
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I'm a pretty good and pretty bad roleplayer, and when given "the run of the candy store" I admit I'll rape the ice cream dept, pillage the chocolate bar section and brutalize the employee's. I don't like Roll-Playing, it annoys me, and I don't like stupid things like a Paladin being given a +5 holy avenger at level 4 and a hippogriff mount, "because it doesn't say in the rules he can't have one".
that being said, every DM I come across I say up front, "I'm not a min/maxer, and while I don't admit to being a powergamer, I have read all the rules, and can come up with some really nasty surprises down the road, and some pretty brutal combinations. So, I'll give you the outline of my character, and a progression to level x, so you know where I'm going and what to expect. I will also present you with 3 or 4 characters, so you can peruse them at your leisure."
when I say I'm not a min maxer, I roll all my stats randomly, or get the DM to do it, just because I can get sucked into the whole min/max thing. and while it might seem to be powergamerish to create a Rogue/Monk/Ur Priest with the feats of Practiced Spellcaster, Improved Natural Attack and crafting things to turn me into "uber smack the badies around while being just as evil as they are and conning the party paladin that I'm doing what's right for the right reasons and even encouraging him to stop my evil ways", doesn't make me a munchkin or a powergamer.
It's all really subjective, I hate munchkins, and even if you do min/max you're only going to be able to do one thing very well, if you have a good DM min/maxers, powergamers and munchkins will leave the game very quickly. Hell I once had this wild rogue/fighter character that could beat the paladin, the monk, the meat shield and the wizard to a pulp, and in 6 months of playing that char every week, I got into 4 fights total, maybe 5.
So, yes, I'm a good roleplayer, and I'm a bad roleplayer. depends on the game, the dm and who's got the cookies and milk
I am either in turns. Sometimes I come across an interesting class option or something which I am interested in trying out and then create a character out of that, and sometimes I have pretty good idea of character, history etc. before starting to figure out what would be a suitable class...
I'll generally start out with a character class and a basic concept. After that I tend to let the process give me ideas for who may character is. Sometimes I'm choosing powers or picking stats because this is what my first level character should be like and other times reading a power or ability gives me an idea of how this might make playing my character interesting. I don't usually play a character that is significantly nerfed. I may be rejecting the best choice because it does not fit my character concept but I will usually pick up a good choice from among the things that do fit with my character concept. So I don't tend to make characters that are particularly sub par, however I have had problems in groups where everyone else is red lining the system and I'm not.
My characters main personality is not really set in stone until around 2nd level. It takes a couple of sessions before I smooth out all the details and hone my basic concept down to what kind of voice my character uses, his mannerisms etc.
One thing that works for me in building good organic characters is not to decide what the future will hold. I often have some idea about what kind of abilities my character will be angling for when he reaches the next level but I never decide what the characters abilities are going to be three or four levels down the road because those choices should be made in light of the characters experiences.
Thats not to say I don't have a munchkin streak - I do and I let it rule the roost when I'm the DM. The Evil Anti-Paladin your going to duel with at the end of the adventure - she's a munchkins wet dream.
I used to create my character concept fist and always had the problem, that the rules/classes/feats did never really fit into that concept and that i needed to make too many compromises.
(even harder in 4e, by the way)
So i became a "bad" roleplaying gamer and now i search every splatbook for the necessary feats to maximise one specific aspect. If i want to be a two-weapon wielder, i want to be THE two-weapon wielder, if i want to become an enchanter, nobody shall resist my charms...
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I don’t know that I’m necessarily a good roleplayer, but I’m a bad min/maxer. I like to play powerful and effective characters (usually), but most of the time I just lose interest partway through the creation process; poring through splat books looking for the best feats, or crunching the numbers to find the absolute best combinations bores me most of the time.
I usually start the character creation process either with a race, class, or character concept I want to play, and then fairly quickly fill in the other two (although there are times that the first thing I’ve come up with is a name, and then built a character around that).
By the time I get to the niggling things like allocating those last few skill points, buying equipment or fleshing out a spellbook … I’m kind of over character creation and ready to start playing. And when it comes to choosing feats and such, I usually find its more effective to ask someone like Fatespinner or Aubrey what they think would be an effective feat for my character or the party, rather than trawl through books to look for one myself.
I used to create my character concept first and always had the problem, that the rules/classes/feats did never really fit into that concept and that i needed to make too many compromises.
(even harder in 4e, by the way)So i became a "bad" roleplaying gamer and now i search every splatbook for the necessary feats to maximise one specific aspect. If i want to be a two-weapon wielder, i want to be THE two-weapon wielder, if i want to become an enchanter, nobody shall resist my charms...
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Hi, my name is Cuchulainn, and I am an even more annoying type of bad roleplayer.
I come up with character concepts that are somehow not supported by the rules very well. As a result, my characters have interesting backstories, charming personalities, but are nearly useless in combat.
Too make it worse, I prefer playing bards.
Hi, my name is Cuchulainn, and I am an even more annoying type of bad roleplayer.
I come up with character concepts that are somehow not supported by the rules very well. As a result, my characters have interesting backstories, charming personalities, but are nearly useless in combat.
Too make it worse, I prefer playing bards.
Wow, were we separated at birth? I've done this 3 times, all bards. Great characters, awful PCs. My mages and wizards were always oddly utilitarian in bent also, I don't think I even memorized combat spells.
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I don’t know that I’m necessarily a good roleplayer, but I’m a bad min/maxer. I like to play powerful and effective characters (usually), but most of the time I just lose interest partway through the creation process; poring through splat books looking for the best feats, or crunching the numbers to find the absolute best combinations bores me most of the time.
That's pretty much how I feel as well. I've never cared much for playing the club-footed runt with Dex and Str 6 or a multiple-personality headcase "because it would be a great role-playing opportunity". Also, I'm a terrible actor; actually, I'm a noticeably better roleplayer online than I am at the table.
I'm Saern, and I have the potential to be a bad roleplayer.
If the DM sets the mood right and the rest of the players are interested in cooperating to create a compelling narrative, then I can plunge into "deep immersion mode," which I really enjoy.
But if the DM and the people around me aren't providing an atmosphere conducive for such play, I either do extremely light roleplay or don't even bother.
The second condition is far, far more common than the first; as in, I'm hard pressed to think of more than 30 minutes of combined tme in all my play experience in which the first scenario has been the case at the table. So I have very little practice.
That said, I'm an extremely good writer, and so in PbP or even MMOs, I can do very deep and immersive roleplay, and have actually had far more success there. Even in WoW, I've done the whole "mysterious stranger in the corner of an inn, waiting for a long-lost friend," then rode to the edge of the Searing Gorge and stood upon a peak looking over the smoke-filled and fire-blasted land, told of the dark paths I've been down since my last parting with the aforementioned friend, before setting off into the hellscape. I actually had great fun taking the completely random quests given to me in that game and thinking of how I could re-work them to fit my character's story. The most annoying thing, and one of the reasons I stopped playing, is that no one in those games roleplays while they're actually adventuring; they just want to stand in big public places in cities (parks, etc.) and roleplay, often with no environmental stimuli or action. I always wanted to actually roleplay "in the field." Blizzard created an amazingly diverse and visually stunning world; use it!
[/quasi-rant]
As for character creation strategies, I don't usually go in for outlandish or even powergamed builds. I can do it, because I've learned how to after playing alongside and DMing for powergamers, but it's not my innate inclination. I, like everyone else, want a powerful character, but I don't usually stray far outside the PHB. My mechanical conceptualizing usually occurs simultaneously, hand-in-hand with my story conceptualizing, and I've come up with some pretty intricate and novel-esque backgrounds for my characters. I know most of it will never come into play, but I can't stop myself from filling in the details of a good character or story when one comes to me.
Well, often I have a character concept and I assign stats to suit. My "Eternal Champion" character (a NG peasant-hero pugilist-vigilante) has visited four or five systems now (not counting the Elder Scrolls games).
That said, I also think that I'd like to play a specific class/race combination and build a personality to fit.
I'm with you fatespiner, but for me my "DM-worst-nightmare-PC" has to go hand by hand with an equally interesing shell for all that power... Otherwise is not interesting for me ;_;
Sadly my DMs are not patient enough to handle my characters and nobody wants me in their group... ;_;
Crybabies...
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A common phrase I keep hearing from people, usually after talking about something they've done, is "... does that make me a bad person?"
I can't quite tell if it's the case here, but there's actually 3 categories - someone who roleplays well, someone who roleplays but doesn't do it well, and someone who doesn't roleplay.
There's some insecurity going through this thread. Falling into any of these 3 categories doesn't make you a bad person, so don't feel like you are while you're "admitting to being a bad roleplayer".
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Terrible roleplayer, but I'm working on it.
The main problem is that I always feel like I'm moving too slow mentally. What should I say to intimidate this guy? Okay, now that he's intimidated, what even did I want to ask him? And then I always seem to forget to do something. Did we loot the bodies? Wait, we forgot to ask the townsfolk what the guy we're searching for even looks like. Is he a human, halfling...?
Oddly enough, I only seem to have this problem as a player. When I'm GMing, I feel like I'm much more quick-witted.
Totally a bad roleplayer\good faker here.
I put more thought into crunch than fluff, though I paint my personality in broad strokes. I let the details fall into place at the table as we go though. Plus, on the one hand it adds to realism, after all, if the party first meets my new PC they aren't going to know his personality and quirks from the outset, they'll show.
For some reason all my PCs are egotistical and commanding, though I have no idea why. Maybe I'm just really really good at roleplaying?
I've had to scale back my role-playing. If what you're saying/doing in our games doesn't somehow translate to actual game-specific actions, the DM's tend to just brush off everything you just said. I've given many an in-character passionate speech only to fall on crickets chirping, until I say "I make a ____ check." "Oh, OK!"
So, I've taken to trying to translate game-mechanics into what I role-play doing. For example:
Me: I'm going to attempt to Intimidate this guy by going: " *condescending remark*" *rolls d20*
I've had the same DM's actually criticize players for not "getting into" the game enough, which is laughable. This past week, we spent the first hour of the session in a major city, preparing for what seems to be a very dangerous(suicidal) quest; we were seeking out npc's, acquiring gear, working out strategies, the works. DM pipes up and says "alright guys, you've been goofing off for the past hour, do you want to play this or not?" SMH.
Some DM's only seem to respond to game-lingo command words.